


Finding You & Me

by bavarian_angel



Category: MotoGP RPF, Motorcycling RPF
Genre: Alcohol, Confessions, Feelings, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-16
Updated: 2016-08-16
Packaged: 2018-08-07 05:34:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7702609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bavarian_angel/pseuds/bavarian_angel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marc had changed; and Dani was about to find out the reason for it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Finding You & Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JustLyra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustLyra/gifts).



Dani couldn’t remember when he had first noticed the changes in Marc. Everything had seemed normal during the winter break, at least on the few occasions when they had seen each other. And then there had been the pre-season testing - with Marc setting times nowhere near where he was supposed to be.

It hadn’t come as a huge shock, especially with everyone remembering the testing times in 2016 compared to how the season had gone for him. But then, on the other hand, Dani had topped the time sheets, with exactly the same bike.

Now, over half a year later, Dani was sitting on his hotel bed in Kuala Lumpur, starring down at his phone. He knew that he should be sleeping by now, should get rest with the race tomorrow. He was on pole after all. But right now, there was no way he would find any sleep, not after receiving Hector’s message half an hour ago.

_Marc’s disappeared from the hospital. Doctors had deemed him unfit for race and wanted to keep him over night. Any idea where he might be?!_

He had quickly called him back, wanting all the details, but the Honda communications manager didn’t know much more himself. Sighing, Dani wiped his face in frustration.

Only last season, he would have sworn that Marc would never do such a stupid thing, but if he was really honest with himself, he didn’t really know the young man anymore. Of course, he had tried to call and text him as soon as he had hung up on Hector, but right now he seemed to have vanished - until the ping of his mobile phone indicated an incoming text message.

Rushing to wipe away the lock screen, Dani soon felt his heart to start racing when he saw that it was from Marc. Actually no text, but a single picture of the night time sky. With a frown forming on his face, Dani looked at it, wondering what his teammate wanted to say with that. Only after several minutes, Dani realized that the skyscraper in the background looked more than familiar to him. He rushed over to the window of his hotel room, throwing back the curtains - and he was met with almost the same picture. He definitely knew where Marc was right now.

Only a couple minutes later, Dani pushed open the door to the hotel roof. He was met with hot sticky air, making it hard to breath, especially after he had rushed up the stairs, no patience for the lift. His heart kept hammering away in his chest as he looked around. Panic started to rise again before his eyes finally fell on the lone figure, sitting against the roof top railing.

Not wanting to startle the younger man, Dani slowly walked over to him. The lights from below only showed him his outlines and soon he noticed the strange clothing on his teammate, remembering what Hector had told him about Marc not only disappearing from the hospital, but also stealing some poor patient’s clothes as he had still worn his leathers on admission after the crash at the track. He also saw the bottle standing next to him on the ground, clearly not a water or soda bottle.

Swallowing down his anger about Marc being so stupid and careless, Dani waited until the younger man finally looked up. And within a single moment the anger turned into heartbreak, when he saw Marc’s eyes, saw the misery in them, saw someone who had given up.

“Hey...”

“You found me.”

Nodding, Dani gestured to the free space next to Marc, only sitting down after he had given him permission by a sluggish shrug. Leaning against the railing, Dani looked up. The stars were slowly breaking through the clouds. Despite it being almost midnight, the noise of the Malaysian streets built a constant background, yet not completely reaching them up here.

Dani noticed a slight movement to his left, more knowing than seeing it as Marc took another swig from the bottle; his shaking fingers showing that the alcohol already had an effect on him. A million questions were flying through Dani’s mind - _What are you doing up here? Why did you leave the hospital? Why did you send_ me _the picture?_ \- but in the end, he settled on the one thing that was in the centre of all of it.

“Marc, what happened?”

“You know what happened. I crashed...”

“I don’t mean today. What happened to the young man, who sent me cheer up videos when I was out after my arm pump surgery, who laughed his ass off in press conferences, who posted silly prank videos on the Internet? What happened to the guy who won a race from the last place on the grid?”

Marc didn’t look at him, eyes firmly on the ground in front of him, when a humourless laugh escaped his mouth.

“You tell me, Dani. Because I don’t know what happened. I mean, look at me! I’m sixth in the championship. I crashed out more times than I was on the podium. Whatever I do, I just don’t seem to get a grip on that bike. And seeing you... I know it’s not the bike... I’m really happy for you, Dani, you deserve it. You deserve to finally win that championship. It’s just like... I can’t seem to ride a bike anymore.”

With the low lights on the roof Dani wasn’t really sure, but he could have sworn that Marc’s cheeks were wet with silent tears. He wanted to reach out, wanted to wrap his arms around the younger man, but he knew that he could easily be pushed away again. And he didn’t want that - not after he finally seemed to get through to Marc.

“That’s bullshit and you know it.”

“Is it? Because I’m not sure... After all, bikes are all I have in life...”

Dani looked on as Marc struggled to get on his feet, the mixture of post crash dizziness, alcohol and pain killers making him stagger on his feet. He was about to reach out when Marc clung to the railing, looking down in surprise as if he had just noticed that he was actually on the roof top of the hotel.

For a short moment, panic started to rise in Dani as he saw Marc slightly lean forward, but before he could even move, Marc fell down on his knees, forehead pressed again the railing, taking in deep breaths. It was only minutes later that he finally seemed to calm down again, before he turned around and sat down next to Dani once more - still completely avoiding looking at the older man.

“Marc?”

“Hmm?”

“Why did you send me the picture? Why not Hector or Santi? Why not Alex?”

Just hearing his brother’s name brought a pained expression to Marc’s face. Once again, it left Dani wondering. After all, there had to be something completely wrong with this world, if even the tiniest thing could come between the two brothers.

“Because Alex isn’t talking to me anymore...”

“What...? But why?”

Tears were back in Marc’s eyes, the sniffling sounds literally breaking Dani’s heart. He felt so helpless right now. He simply had no idea what to do. In a small gesture of support, he reached out, laying his hand on Marc’s knee. The younger man stilled immediately, almost like being burned, but before Dani had a chance of pulling away again, there was at least a tiny hint of relaxation on Marc’s face.

“It’s... it’s because I told him something... Something very important to me, something I wasn’t ready to tell him before... and... and he just walked out, not saying a word...”

“Marc...”

“I... I told him I’m gay...”

Shock and surprise didn’t even cover what Dani felt hearing those words. He had looked for countless things that could have made Alex walk out on Marc, but never this.

“And you haven’t talked since?”

“No... not since Aragon...”

Dani let out a deep breath. Suddenly the air seemed even thicker than before, his rapidly beating heart almost making his chest explode.

Eyeing Marc gingerly, Dani wondered what to do. He wouldn’t leave him now, this definitely not providing a reason to, but on the other hand he was scared that if he did anything wrong, Marc would be the one running away and next time it wouldn’t be that easy to find him.

Very carefully, Dani took his hand from Marc’s knee, the reaction of fear and disappointment obvious on the younger man’s face, but it all vanished when Dani wrapped his arm around Marc’s shoulder, slightly pulling him in. For a second he seemed to freeze, unable to accept this gesture, but finally, with another silent sob, Marc relaxed against him. And despite the heat, Dani could feel the slight trembling in his body.

“So... is there actually anybody... you know...”

Once again Marc tensed up. For a moment Dani thought he would move away, holding his arm around him firmly to prevent it.

“You know you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to...”

“I... well, there’s somebody... I really like and I keep thinking about him constantly, but he’s off the line...”

“Oh... Doesn’t he like you?”

“I don’t really know to be honest. We’re friends, yes, but he has no idea that I look at him that way. And he has a long time girlfriend...”

“Tell me more about him...”

Dani could see the hint of a bitter-sweet smile on Marc’s face as the younger man started to draw little patters on Dani’s knee.

“He’s great. He’s simply gorgeous and one of the nicest people I know. He doesn’t really let it on, but he’s also funny like hell. He’s got the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen... At work he’s so focused and no matter what, he just doesn’t give up, even if the odds are against him. He’s a real fighter and I admire that so much. Right now it looks like finally he’s got all the luck he missed out on in the last years and he really deserves it. No matter what people said, he always held his head up high. He’s definitely a better man than me... He even forgave me for ruining his birthday a few years ago, despite him walking away with bruises from it...”

Dani had started to imagine said man in his mind - until that last sentence. A shiver ran down his spine; and he couldn’t stop his jaw from dropping as he tried to get a look at Marc’s face. The returned tension was enough of a sign to tell him that Marc knew what he had just realized.

Unable to say a single word, Dani just sat there for a moment, trying to process what Marc had told him. The sudden silence lay heavily between them. As Marc tried to pull away - Dani’s non-responsiveness giving him a good enough reason - Dani didn’t hesitate one second to hold on. Instead, he pulled Marc closer, if that was even possible.

“You know... I think I know this man. And I can tell you that he’s not a better man than you... Because I know that he lies. That he builds a picture for the media and everybody around him. He’s too afraid to let anybody really into his private life... He even goes as far as pretending to have a girlfriend because he’s scared of the consequences once people find out... Once they’ll know that he’s more into other men than bikes and women combined.”

He could barely hear Marc’s breathless gasp and all Dani could do was swallow against the lump in his throat, when he turned towards him, his eyes full of tears, surprise and hope.

“And he always admired his younger teammate, even though they had a bit of a tough first season together. It really hurt him to watch him this season, but he also knows that he’ll come back even stronger than before. He’ll come back and win another championship next season. He’ll get it all sorted with his brother because I know that they both simply can’t live without each other and it was all probably just a big misunderstanding. He’ll do all that and more because he’s the strongest person I know... and the most beautiful human being I ever met...”

It was like the world moved in slow motion as Dani watched the emotions in Marc’s eyes before settling on his lips, so innocently licked and worried with his teeth. And only seconds later, Dani could have added another thing to his list - because Marc had the softest lips he had ever felt.

Soon the taste of salty lips and bitter liquor faded into the background, when Marc’s hands found their way into Dani’s hair, pulling him even closer. They both seemed to want the moment to last forever, both slightly out of breath when they finally pulled back.

Dani starred into Marc’s eyes again, not getting enough of those chocolate pools full of feelings. He wanted to tell him so much more, what he adored about him, how much he scared him when he watched him crash, that he probably should go back to hospital and get properly checked out.

But all of that was forgotten, when Marc pulled him into another kiss. Because that was all that mattered right now - not the sticky hot air, not the switch of their roles in the championship, not the irresponsible mixture of pain medication and alcohol...

“Dani?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you for finding me...”

 


End file.
